9-3-1.
I don’t think even the most positive subset of Hawk fandom would have predicted this record after 13 games. But here we are.
The Hawks just swept a back to back home and home versus last year’s nemesis, Dallas. And they did so in a now famiilar manner—behind stellar goaltending and scoresheet dominance from the top 6.
Sure, there are some mitigating factors. The team was outshot, yet again. They gave up a power play goal last night—after steady improvement throughout the previous handful of games.
And it should be noted, the Hawks won close games against a somewhat depleted Dallas lineup, minus Patrick Sharp and Jason Spezza.
For the Hawks’ part, they’ve had injuries, but they seem to almost creating opportunities. The injury to Trevor van Riemsdyk earlier in the season gave some more ice time to Gustav Forsling—who clearly has a higher upside anyway. The question before last night’s game was where Andrew Desjardins would slot in once he returns. Well, that was answered by a lower body injury to Tyler Motte last night. Unfortunate for him, but in some ways Desjardins replaces him quite nicely.
I won’t say it’s luck. But in some ways, things are just working out nicely for Chicago thus far in the 2016-17 season. And as I blogged yesterday, all these pointed piling up give the team the room and time to continue to work out some of the kinks and wrinkles of a lot of new faces, and young ones at that.
In addition to Artemi Panarin and Artem Anisimov’s continued dominance last night, Marian Hossa added a goal and a gorgeous assist on a Jonathan Toews tally, giving #81 1100 points for his storied career. While this has been a year of milestones thus far for a 37 year old winger, more importantly, the “rest… hypothesis appears legitimate: Hossa has rediscovered his legs and his scoring touch, which is huge for Chicago.
The Hawk top 6, whether Motte or Richard Panik or Nick Schmaltz occupies the celebrity guest slot on one of the left wings, is a potent weapon—and matchup headache for opposing coaches— yet again.
As always, let’s not get too far out over our skis. I would argue the only legitimately elite team the Hawks have faced so far—that was 100% healthy at the time—has been Wednesday night’s opponent, St. Louis. But there’s room for argument, I suppose, there.
Still, more tests and tribulation await. But the early signs, even though it’s hard to make out yet what the true identity of this team really is, are encouraging.
I’ll be back next with a St. Louis preview.
JJ
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